Space Launch System - Orion

[Eric Mc]

Interesting presentation from a week or so ago by the NASA Administrator -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nv3pAO-RXoQp

[MartG]

Not really unexpected...

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/danvergano/na...

No bucks, no Buck Rogers

[Eric Mc]

Quelle surprise!

Starting the process to get a lander and obtaining the relevant funding it so close to 2024 always meant that landing on the moon in 2024 was massively unlikely.

[Talksteer]

Beati Dogu said:

Rocket Lab's first stage recovery went "better than expected" according to boss Peter Beck. The rest of the mission was good too, with a successful deployment of the satellites.

With the new Reaction Control System (RCS) jets, they can now flip the booster around like SpaceX do and fire the engines to scrub off a lot of the forward speed. They don't do a boost back, or landing burn like a Falcon 9, but the rocket is slowed & orientated to survive reentry before parachutes deploy.

This test didn't have any parachutes, so it slammed into the ocean at over 500 mph. They got telemetry up until impact though. so they should learn a lot from it. Parachutes and eventual in-air recovery by helicopter will be added later.

Rocket Labs don't refire the engine, they simply point the engine forward and re-enter.

The clever bit is orientating the engine so none of the shocks can attach themselves and cook the vehicle.

Peter Beck talked about this today with Tim Dodd, notable details were that reusability adds 160kg to the first stage but that the ratio of first stage weight to payload is around 1-8 (so all things being equal only a 20kg deficit to payload) as they have a relatively large second stage.

20kg is likely within margins and areas of improvement over the baseline rocket anyway.

[Beati Dogu]

Yes, that was a good interview. Feet casually dangling over the flame vent at their new launchpad in Wallops, Virginia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUfOnwSLWxY

Clearly there's a lot that's subject to change and it'll be interesting to see how much they actually need to do to make the recovery work. Seems that adding a relight system would be a minor issue if they decide to go that way. I doubt it would be needed on all 9 Rutherford engines; SpaceX only have it on 3 of their 9 I believe.

[MartG]

Talksteer said:

Rocket Labs don't refire the engine, they simply point the engine forward and re-enter.

The clever bit is orientating the engine so none of the shocks can attach themselves and cook the vehicle.

The advantage of a much lighter vehicle I guess

[MartG]

Update on completed core stage

https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/artem...

[MartG]

Onto the barge

https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/first...

[Beati Dogu]

Now that will look impressive when they strap it down and fire up those 4 engines.

Here's the Saturn V's first stage green run. They'll be using the same test stand for SLS.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cnC5j95axw

[Eric Mc]

Pity the picture and sound quality isn't great. If you can, get hold of the DVD, "The Mighty Saturns". They have all this footage restored to excellent quality and fantastic sound, especially if you have a sub woofer.

[Beati Dogu]

Thanks I've just found them on Youtube actually.

[Eric Mc]

I actually found the videos on the Saturn I and IB more interesting as they cover the original philosophy behind the Saturn family which is usually overlooked in documentaries on the Saturn V itself.

One of the reasons why Apollo hit the ground running in May 1961 is that there was almost ten years of research and development on large boosters already in the bag.

[Beati Dogu]

Some nice footage of the Artemis SLS first stage leaving the factory:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A45PhO2WjMw

[Eric Mc]

I don't recall such hoo-hah when the first SIC stage of the Saturn V was rolled out.

[Codotuk]

I luckily/accidentally saw this launch while I was on holiday on the 20th of dec 640am from the front garden in Kissimmee.

https://youtu.be/rybfewNCUIo

Tbh I wasn’t sure what it was until I asked somebody what it could have been.

[MartG]

Eric Mc said:

I don't recall such hoo-hah when the first SIC stage of the Saturn V was rolled out.

It was probably filmed for one of the regular NASA internal progress update movies ( e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynVxE2XGKRI ) but certainly not widely publicised like SLS is being now.

Perhaps NASA have woken up to the fact that years of little or no apparent progress on it has left the public somewhat disillusioned, so now they are trying to build up some excitement and support now something is actually happening, however mundane that progress may be

[Flooble]

There were plenty of things happening when the first S1C stage rolled out, it was an actual production line so would have been about as newsworthy as ‘Ford builds another car’. If it had taken ten years to make each Saturn V and there was a 9 year gap between each Gemini mission then maybe there would have been more press releases about ‘we moved this part from here to there’

[Eric Mc]

Almost definitely true. Although I think rolling out individual components of Saturn V was probably less dramatic than this core stage, which is pretty big, even by Saturn V standards.

I think the moment in the Apollo programme when Americans realised, "Hey, they really are serious about this moon landing stuff", would have been when the dummy Saturn V (the SA-500F) was rolled out of the VAB in 1966 as part of the pad and launch facility compatibility tests. That really was impressive, even if it wasn't an actual Saturn V.

[Chester35]

Some of the pictures of the rocket are bringing back memories of the old days.

Hope everything goes well in 2020 for them. Really looking forward to it.

[Flooble]

Eric Mc said:

Almost definitely true. Although I think rolling out individual components of Saturn V was probably less dramatic than this core stage, which is pretty big, even by Saturn V standards.

I think the moment in the Apollo programme when Americans realised, "Hey, they really are serious about this moon landing stuff", would have been when the dummy Saturn V (the SA-500F) was rolled out of the VAB in 1966 as part of the pad and launch facility compatibility tests. That really was impressive, even if it wasn't an actual Saturn V.

I can only imagine what the Russians must have thought in 1966 when they saw that while they were only just finished arguing about the design of the N-1